Carbonating apparatus.



No. 639,632. Patented Dec. 19,1899.

L. TUFTS & H. A. HOPKINS. CARBONATING APPARATUS.

(Application filed June 8, 1899.) (No Model.) 3 sheets shet l.

;'f\ I 1 Q l rd l I1 j -6 '13.

U H [L Witnesses Inventors: 1

1: Nmims Ptrzrls 00.. PhOTO-LITHO" WASHINUION, u c.

No. 639,632. Patented Dec. l9, I899.

L. TUFTS &. H. A. HOPKINS.

GABBONATING APPARATUS.

(Application filed June 8, 1899.)

(No Modall) 3 $heetsSheat 2.

FIG. .2

W 1t n e. s es 4 lnventors'a WW8? Wm; 77 4:: "=0 M J 4 v 2 l a 71% ("m/ f i 7 y v THE palms PETERS co. mow-Lyme" wnsnmamm m c; w

No. 639,632. Patented Dec. 19, I899. TUFTS & H. A. HOPKINS.

CABBUNATING APPARATUS.

(Application filed June 8, 1899,)

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

Inventor's.'

fiw w 6 Wit messes @44 W? T nonms K1555 ca, P

Fries.

LEONARD TUFTS, OF MEDFORD, AND HEBER A. HOPKINS, OF CAMBRIDGE,

MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO THE AMERICAN SODA FOUNTAIN COM- PANY, OF TRENTON, NEW JERSEY.

CARBONATING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 639,632, dated December 19, 1899.

Application filed June 8, 1899. Serial No. 719,796. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, LEONARD TUFTS, of the city of Medford, and HEBER A. HOPKINS, of. the city of Cambridge, in the State of Massachusetts, citizens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oarbonating Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates particularly to apparatus for carbonating water such as is used in bottling establishments and in establishments for the retailing of soda-water, such as drug stores and the like.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple, economical, and efficient apparatus for automatically carbonating a supply of wateras it enters a receiver and stopping and starting such supply whenever the carbonated water is furnished or withdrawn from the receiver; and the invention consists in the features, combinations, and details of construction hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a carbonating apparatus constructed in accordance with our improvement; Fig. 2, a plan view of the same looking at it from the top; Fig. 3, an enlarged detail view of the electric switch and attached mechanisms; Fig. 4, an enlarged sectional de- 0 tail of the T-shaped plug and pipes at the head of the receiver, taken on the line 6 of Fig. 2; Fig. 5, a sectional detail of the same mechanism, taken on the line 5 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 6, a cross-sectional view taken on the 5 line 6 of Fig. 4.

In the art to which this invention relates it is well known that it is highly desirable to have a carbonating apparatus so constructed and arranged that the water as it enters the 0 same may be saturated with carbonic-acid gas and when the receiver is filled that such saturation and supply of water will be stopped until a sufficient quantity has been withdrawn to make it necessary to again furnish 5 a supply of water and saturate the same with carbonic-acid gas during its entrance into the receiver. Our invention, therefore,is intended primarily to provide a simple, economical, and efficient apparatus of this style, all of which will more fully hereinafter appear.

In constructing our apparatus we provide a platform A, of any desired size, shape, and strength, upon which the receiverB is mounted at or near one end and a pump 0 at or near the opposite end and adapted to be operated by means of an electric motor D, which for convenience may be mounted at or near the same and adjacent to the same. This platform is of that class of platforms which may be described and is considered as a tilting platform and which has its tilting journals a resting in suitable bearings on the standards E, so that the platform, with its apparatus, may be tilted or rocked first to one side and then to the other.

To furnish a supply of carbonic-acid gas to the receiver, so that it may saturate the incoming supply of spraying-water, a gas-supply pipe I is provided and connected to the plug by means of a union or otherwise, so that the supply of gas enters and passes down and through the opening 1' in the plug. This gas-supply pipe, it will be understood, is connected with a tank containing a supply of carbonic-acid gas under pressure and which has the usual equalizing-valves and other mechanism unnecessary to illustrate and describe herein, for the reason that they are well known to those skilled in this art.

To furnish a supply of water to the receiver, a water pump 0 is provided, which has a crank-shaft 0 provided with a crank-plate 0, operating a plunger 0 by means of a connecting-rod 0 A supply-pipe G,leading from any suitable source of water-supply, cornmunicates with a valve-chamber of the pump, and a discharge-pipe G is connected with the inside portion of the valve-chamber and with an opening it in the plug H, through which the water is fed into the reservoir and atomized by means of the two small pipes h at the lower portion of the opening. It will therefore be seen from this construction and arrangement that when the pump is working the supply of water is fed to the receiver and when such pump is stopped no water is fed to the receiver.

To actuate the water-pump at the proper times, an electric motor D is provided and connected with a source of electric energy by means of the wires (1 and cl, which in turn are connected to binding-posts on the switch K. The continuation of the wires (1 and (1 lead through the switch K to the proper source of electric energy. When the electric motor is supplied with its proper amount of current, it rotates so that its armature-shaft d rotates and by means of the pinion d operates the train of compound gears d and d to operate the driven gear (i on the crankshaft of the motor.

When the receiver is full of carbonated waters, that end of the platform is tilted so as to be close to the ground or floor, and as a consequence the operating-rod L releases the switch-lever from engagement with the binding-posts and interrupts the current, so that the electric motor is stopped. As the carbonated waters are drawn off from the receiverthrough the exit-pipe M the receiver is gradually emptied, and when its weight, with the amount of material therein, is less than the combined weight of the motor and pump they will over-balance the same and cause the platform to tilt to the other side. At the same time the'operating-rod is turned .downwardly by the platform and operates a switch-lever so as to close the same, furnish a supply of current to the motor, and rotate it to operate the pump and furnish a supply of water to the receiver.

The exit-pipe M is connected with the plug and in line with the discharge-opening m in such plug, which has its pipe running down to or close to the bottom of the receiver, so that nothing but the charged waters can be drawn oif until the receiveris emptied. This plug is also provided with a vent-opening N and screw-plug n for the purpose of withdrawing either the supply of carbonic-acid gas or to permit air as the water is being fed in initially to be forced out therethrough. The controlling-rod, as will be seenin Fig. 3, is provided with two cushion-springs Z and l, which act to cushion the force transmitted by the movements of the tilting platform to the switch-lever, so that it can be operated without a shock. The collar Z is adjustably secured to the upper rod, so as to get the desired tension and operate the switch faster or slower and at such time or times as may seem desirable or necessary.

While we have described our invention with more or less minuteness as regards details of construction and arrangement and as being embodied in certain precise mechanisms, it will be understood that we do not desire to be limited thereto unduly any more than is pointed out in the claims. On the contrary, we contemplate all proper changes in form, construction, and arrangement, the omission of immaterial elements, and the substitution of equivalents, as circumstances may suggest or necessity render expedient.

We claim 1. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of a rocking or tilting platform, a mixing vessel or receiver on one end of the platform, a pump on the other end of the platform for supplying water to the mixing vessel, an electric motor connected with a source of electric energy, and means for cutting off the supply of electric energy to the motor by and during the movements of the rocking platform, substantially as described.

2. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of a rocking or tilting platform, a receiving or mixing vessel on one end of the platform, a water-pump on the other end of the platform for supplying water to the mixing vessel, an electric motor connected with the water-pump on the same end of the platform, an electric switch for cutting ofior furnishing a supply of current to the electric motor and means for opening and closing the switch by and during the movements of the rocking platform, substantially as described.

3. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of a rocking platform, a receiving or mixing vessel on one end of the platform, a water-pump on the other end of the platform for furnishing a supply of water to the mixing vessel, an electric motor for operating the pump arranged adjacent to it on the same end of the platform, an electric switch for shutting off and furnishing a supply of current to the electric motor, a switch or lever on the same, an operating-rod connected with the tilting platform and with the switch lever for opening and closing the switch by and duringthe movements of the rocking platform, substantially as described.

4. In an apparatus of the class described, the combinationof a rocking platform, a receiving or mixing vessel on one end of the platform, a water-pu mp on the other end of the platform for furnishing a supply of water to the mixing vessel, an electric motor for operating the pump arranged adjacent to it on the same end of the platform, an electric switch for shutting off and furnishing a supply of current to the electric motor, a switch or lever on the same, an operating-rod connected with the tilting platform, a switchlever for opening and closing the switch by and during the movements of the rocking platform, and cushion-springs interposed between the operating-rod and the switch-lever, substantially as described.

LEONARD TUFTS. I-IEBER A. HOPKINS.

Witnesses:

GEO. A. SwEETsER, JOHN MACKSEY. 

